Monday, 16 November 2009

The Tipping Point ideas.

I didn't make a poster or anything because i wasn't sure if i was doing it right or not so i stored it in the empty space of my mind and sort of ran with it at our seminar when we were talking about it in the group.
I thought about the part in the book where Gladwell talks about the graffiti on the trains and subways as it is a well known "annoyance" that happens everywhere.
At first i thought about a special paint that would be used on the train and subway carriages instead of the normal coating they receive, one that would stop the spray paint or foreign ink from sticking to the paint and there for the carrage. Stopping the graffiti. But then i thought that surely with technology these days the graffiti "artists" would work round the paint not sticking and compose something else up. As there is always a flaw with most things.
So i started looking at the actual "crime"

I don't think it looks that bad! So then i thought about how the city council could get the "culprits" actually involved to "stop" them from defacing the public transport.
I thought they could arrange competitions to get the graffiti artists to design work for the carriages and so then have their work on the train/ subway and so no one would be defacing anything.
Ok, so someone might graffiti over it but at least it's not going to be as obvious!
The council could advertise in the paper, on tv, have posters put up over the city, the internet etc explaining that they want graffiti artists for the purpose of designing for the carriages. Giving a postal address for where to send their ideas, or having a site where they could hand them in or even have a full day event where artists could collaborate.
I thought this could happen every 3-4 years with a new lick of paint and new spray of ink and competition to keep it "fresh".
Obvious people to get in touch with would be the city council and the heads of the railway companies. They could be a bit old fashioned and stiff but if they know what's best and more cost efficient they would go with this sort of idea.
Run the costs by them and i'm sure they would find it hard to pass by.